promise, 'Surely I come quickly,' my heart leaped for joy; but one anxious care came to check the joy. Can any of my children think what it was ?" With overflowing eyes and heightened colour, one of them whispered, "Was it that you were afraid we might not be ready for Him ?" "Yes, dear; and the thought would have been too sad, but that at once I told it to Jesus, and prayed Him most earnestly that each one of the loved children that make my home here so bright might be ever with me in that brighter, happier home above. The only way to be ready for Him at His second coming is to know and love Him now as our Saviour. If we love Him because He first loved us, we shall be ready for Him, no matter when He comes—and not only ready, but longing for His appearing. 66 May you have, each and all, a very happy Christmas, my darlings-full of love and joy for what Jesus did when He came more than 1800 years ago, and full of hope and trust for what He will do when He comes again !" Sayings. USTIFICATION by faith in Christ's righteousness is the golden chain which binds the Christian world in one body. What though we differ on minor points? we still are one. What though we have different forms of ecclesiastical organization? we still are one. "For there is one Lord, one faith, one båptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all."1 The Bible gives hope, and is a source of comfort. How many derive their chief enjoyment, under God, from the institutions of the gospel! Here they find support and conIsolation in the hour of trial. When earthly fountains are dried up, here they find a living fountain, ever open and ever full. As they sit under the droppings of the sanctuary, they exclaim, "Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and 1 Eph. iv. 4-6. there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee. My flesh and my heart faileth; but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever."1 God loved the world; He gave His Son; Jesus died; and whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. The righteous are believers; they have a righteousness wrought out for them by Jesus Christ, and received by faith; they have a righteousness wrought in them by the Holy Ghost; and they have a righteousness wrought out by them in a life of obedience, as the fruit and evidence of faith. Are You Sad? o dark forebodings fill your mind? Is all around you mantled as with a gloomy pall? Does no opening appear through the dense covering which seems to have overspread the heaven of your soul? Are you ready to despair? What is the grand secret of all this? Either you have never known God, or you have forgotten Him. "God is love "-love to the most guilty and self-destroyed, as well as to the holy and happy. He is love to you. His whole heart of compassion gathers in Divine interest around you. Your soul is more precious to Him than ever was Absalom to David-than ever was man to man. "No tender parent's melting breast Longs like your God's to make you blest." Either you have never known this, or you have forgotten it for the time. You have overlooked the fact that He who was willing to endure the bloody sweat of Gethsemane, and to bear the curse of the cross, is still the same, and as willing to aid and bless you now, as He was willing to die for you then. Lay your cross upon Him. Look up to Him as He is your infinitely kind, your best Friend. Remember what He feels, and what He has done for you, and your darkness will be turned into day. 1 Psa. lxxiii. 25, 26. easy task is it to stand and wait;: N° God's warriors find it oft a trying state, Needing long years of discipline to learn, Have simply learned to stand and wait!! When harassed and perplexed with many a care, Spreads before God his case, and pleads His Word, Oh happy they who, ere too late, Have simply learned to stand and wait! Wait on the Lord in simple earnest faith; Have simply learned to stand and wait! In quiet patience wait upon the Lord; Quell all vain murmurings; rest upon His Word; Have simply learned to stand and wait! For they who wait upon the Lord our God, Oh happy they who, ere too late, Have simply learned to stand and wait! Our Ten Weeks' Strike. CHAPTER XXII.-MR. JOHNSON'S STORY-continued. ND now," said Mr. Johnson, "I have only one more part of this story to tell. One day, eight years after the young fellow started for himself, when he found that things were working round, and he had been helped out of a good many straits and difficulties, he received a message, saying that his old employer wanted to see him. At first he did not know what |